Humanocides
by Franz Enkerlin
Summary: Cpl. Travis, we know his "then", but never his "before" and "after". This is his story, about how he joins a genocidal war and fight for survival. From Skopje, to Reach, to earth. Rated M for: Sexual themes, alcohol environment, blood and gore, violence.


Part 1

"_Thank you for joining us today Mr. Travis… I would like you to know how honored we all are to be the first to hear story"_

"_OK…. What do you wanna know?"_

"_Well… we would like to start by knowing what you think about this museum. I'm sure you already took a tour"_

"_Yes I have"_

"_And what do you think about it"_

"_It is really well made. There is a lot to look at"_

"_What is your opinion about the Covenant section of the museum? What do you think about the different specimen models?_

"_They are really well made in deed… they look…"_

"… _They look like what, sir?"_

"…_very real…"_

"_Ok… moving the next topic:… it's the year 2610 and you were born?"_

"_January of 2531… I'm 79 years old"_

"… _Your story in the war commences on the mid 2547, right?"_

"_Yes, the invasion of Skopje. That's correct"_

"_Can you tell me how… your life was before the war? How was it like before the Covenant invaded?"_

"_I was sixteen… I used to go to school but I wasn't a good student or anything like that. I didn't give a shit about it or how my dad would yell at me for coming home drunk with a piece of woman's lingerie somewhere between my clothes every Friday night"_

"_It says in your file that family members before you served in the Military"_

"_Yes… in the Marines mostly"_

"… _but that wasn't your case right?"_

"_No it wasn't… I served in the army"_

"_What can you tell us about the invasion?"_

"_Nobody was expecting it… it was fast and horrible… like a bad dream but u couldn't wake up…"_

Chapter 1: Prelude

I reach out for my hand pad to turn off the alarm. I open my eyes and struggle because of the bright light the pad holographic image is spreading all around my room. It's time to prepare for school and I realize that it's Friday. I can't remember, but I try to guess what happen last night. The headache, the hangover and the smell of alcohol mean that I was probably drunk, and a piece of female underwear gives me the clue that I got laid. I step into my washroom, and I open the sink and give myself a rush of cold water to the face which makes me wake up. I take a look at myself on the mirror. My pupils are not that bad looking although my eyes are as wide as plaits. I take my clothes off and step into the shower ignoring for a brief moment how cold the water still is. I make sure I washed every bit of my body with soup at least twice to eliminate the smell of alcohol and artificial tobacco. Once I'm out of the shower I dress myself up with the first thing I can find. I shower myself with deodorant spray and perfume so I smell like anything but my last night sins. I open my room's door and enter the living room. I walk by the HV screen and the three sofas and enter the kitchen and dinner.

"Good morning, honey" says mom.

"Good morning, mom" I say and just before I approach my seat something cold and hard grabs me from my left arm. I use my other arm to push my father's prosthetic limb away from mine and I sit down and give my juice a try.

"Where were you last night?" he says in Hungarian as he pretends he's reading something in his pad.

"I was out" I answer also in Hungarian.

"You were 'out'? On Thursday night? Till three in the morning?"

"Got a problem with that?" I ask him defiantly.

"Yes. There is a problem. What about school? How are you going to keep up with the day?"

"I might not"

"Yeah right, and tonight you are going to be energetic as every Friday, right?"

"Probably" I tell him with an "I don't give a shit" tone. Silence invades the kitchen as my mother serves us both our breakfast in silver triangle plates. My dad takes a deep breath.

"You only have two years left, Nikola" my dad starts. "Two years is not that long. You don't have any letters of recommendation or any good marks. School is coming to an end and after that what are you going to do? No University is going to take you. Not with that file you have"

"I'll join the UNSC" I say preparing for the discussion this conversation normally brings to the table.

"No you won't"

"Why not? You did it yourself" I tell him. He raises his prosthetic arm made of aluminum and puts it between us so I can look at it.

"And I still regret that decision"

"I won't be in the military. I'll work for ONI" I tell him to calm it down but he starts laughing.

"You want to be a scientist of the Office of Naval Intelligence?" he says making fun of me. "Good luck with that"

"Why not?"

"Simple. No good marks and no letters of recommendation"

"You'll be surprised" I say.

"Ok boys" my mother says interrupting our discussion in English. "Why don't you boys start eating before your meal get's cold?"

"Thanks, mom" I say while looking at my father in the eyes. "I'm not hungry" and I leave the room hoping to make a dramatic exit from the whole scene that just unfolded.

I enter my room and I find my sister in the sink looking at her in the mirror and using some cosmetic products.

"Why in a million hells are you in my room?" I ask her.

"The sink in mine doesn't work. That's why, and since I'm the older sister, I have the right" she says in an arrogant tone.

I wash my teeth with some tooth washer and I pack my school stuff up although there isn't much outside my bag since I didn't do any homework. I make sure my school pad is inside as well as a little snack for later. I close it and together with my sister we get out of our home. I approach the street where a Japanese Lancer red old fashioned classic car is waiting. I open the passenger seat door and I step in the vehicle.

"Look at you, piece of shit" Miclos says exploring my face. "I bet you can't even remember what happen last night, do ya?"

"I do remember a bit" I tell him.

"Really? Like what?" he says surprised.

"Was she at least hot" I ask him opening my school bag and pulling out the piece of woman underwear.

"See for yourself" he says laughing as he hands me over his hand pad that has a picture on the screen of me and the ugly blond woman I spend last night with.

"Fuck me!" I yell and I hand him the hand pad over as he laughs at me.

"You were really into her when I took that picture, my…" he doesn't finish his sentence. He only stares to our right and I turn my head to that direction and I see why. My sister.

"Man, your sister is boiling hot" he says without even looking at me.

"Miclos, I've known you for ten years and still don't have a fucking clue why you're into my sister"

"Because she's hot, man!" He yells. He opens the door and he yells at my sister: "HEY NIKOLETT! WANNA RIDE?!"

"YOU WISH!" my sister screams in return.

"You can love her all you want…" I tell him. "… but I'm telling, she only fucks government boys"

"Which means that she doesn't know what a real man, like me, is" he says with pride.

"Yeah, I know the sermon. Start the engine and let's go, would ya?"

It takes us about fifteen minutes to get to our school. We park near the main entrance and we get out of the vehicle. We go into the main hall filled with other students around our age and we proceed to find our respective class room. Miclos and I sit down in the same seats of the whole year, together as usual. The day is not that long at all. We have to spend about four hours at school. I keep my mind anywhere but in the class, trying to connect yesterday's dots but I fail again and again. I'm surprised to find out that I fell asleep for the last two hours and we are in the last period having Human History. It wasn't a sporadic waking up.

"Mr. Travis?" the teacher asks with an authority look in her eyes.

"Yes?" I answer.

"Let's see if you have been putting attention to my class today, young man. What's the most important piece of technology invented by human kind till date? Please don't ask your class mates or look at your pad" she asks standing with her arms crossed. I take a moment to think about what word to choose. I'm impressed that I do know the answer.

"The shaw-fukijawa engine" I say proud of my correct answer.

"And can you tell me why?"

"Cuz it enabled space travel" I answer.

"I'm surprised, Mr. Travis. Well done. HOMEWORK" our teacher says returning to the holographic board. "For Monday I want an essay written in paper with inc, about the possible reasons why humans are losing corporal hair. Last time your writing was an abomination! You need practice"

The whole class exited threw the room's door and the hall came to life with students as school was already over. I walk down the hall with Miclos at my side. In our journey we pass by a group of good looking girls. They smile at us and I smile back at them together with Miclos.

"Take your pick, Mr. Travis" Miclos whispers at me.

"The blond one" I answer.

"The one with the big breasts?"

"Yeah, that one"

"To bad… she's been already taken" he says as he laughs.

"You wish" I say and I push him away and he pushes me back. We keep playing like that till we reach the parking lot. We enter the vehicle and go to have lunch at one of our favorite fast food restaurants. We go to his house were we watch some stuff in the holographic screen and we also take a nap. We wake up around six in the afternoon and sun is about to set. "It´s Friday" Miclos says. "What kind of shit are we going to do this time?"

"Don't know. Should we go to a club?" I tell him.

"Or a bar" he suggests.

"No wait. Why don't we go to Jerry's?"

"The bar in the outskirts?"

"Yeah" I tell him. "We could go there. We haven't been there in a while"

"I don't wanna be an ass" he tells me. "But I do wan girls and non off them show up at Jerry's"

"Come on. Well pick up a fight or something" I tell him trying to convince him to go there. I succeeded in doing so and we prepare for the night. I borrow an old fashion t-shirt with flowers in green tone. We both take a shower and eat something and after around two ours we leave on our way to the bar. When we arrive the night is young and there is not much to do. Some guys playing pool, some couples, etc. I and Miclos sit on two of the seats at the drinks table. The bartender approaches to be told what we want for a drink. I order some skop berry juice with some vodka, the planet's local drink, and Miclos orders a drink originally from Earth called Beer, a drink that I don't like although its important amongst Hungarians. The night passes as Miclos and I start to get bored drink after drink. Around midnight we are about leave the place but just then three sexy girls walk into the bar. They were all in bright white uniform. You could read the tags in the left side of their chests. They were members of the UNSC Space Navy but even if they were in those white uniforms that don't let them show off their feminine attributes you could be sure that there were three great bodies beneath them.

"Navy chicks" Miclos told me. "Thank god. Take your pick". I stared at all three of the chicks for a while. The first one had short black hair and her skin tone was light yellow and her eyes were pulled to both sides of her face. The second one was a redhead with long hair and white skin. She looked nice but the third one was the best of them all. She was black skinned and had long black hair that would reach her hips. I told Miclos that I was going after the last one I described. He argues that he wants her but I remind him that he denied me the blond with big breasts back at school. He thought it was fair and I waited for my opportunity. Just then three men in green camouflaged uniforms enter the bar and sit in the same tables where the ladies sit. These guys are big and muscular. By their uniforms you can tell they are Marines, the main UNSC galactic fighting force. One of them is also from the same ethnicity as the girl of the light yellow skin and pulled eyes. The other one is white skinned with blond hair and blue eyes and the last one is a tanned guy with no hair on his head also with lightly pulled brown eyes. He was the biggest of all of them.

After they chat a little, the black skinned girl stands up and approaches the bartender to order some drinks. Me and Miclos are impressed with the numbers of alcoholic beverages that she orders. I turn to Miclos and he tells me in hungarian: "It's your shot. Easy one" I turned to the other side almost landing in the navy girl's shoulder.

"That's a lot for a woman" I tell her trying to make a good impression. She sighs and turns to look at me with a smile. "I'm Nikola. What about you?" I tell her but the answer never comes. "Come on. I'm not talking to a ghost. Tell me you name"

"My name is Mellor" she says.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mellor. Were you from? You don't sound like someone that is from here" she laughs.

"I'm from Sigma Octanus" she tells me. "I bet you don't even know where that is"

"Actually I do" I say impressed because of her arrogance. "Sigma Octanus is not a planet. It's a solar system that holds four inner colonies. From which of the four colonies are you?" I ask and she laughs a little.

"I'm from SO four"

"Cool. I've never been there" I tell her. Then I do my move. "I must say that you look outstanding tonight with that uniform". When you are trying to get into a one night stand the chick should know what's the deal from the beginning so that she can choose to be in or get out, because it's not cool when they back out in the middle of the whole situation. "I would really love to see you without it sometime"

"OK… stop right there" she tells me putting her hand in my mouth. "Is that how you get laid? Showing off that you have some useful knowledge about the galaxy and then you tell the girl that you think she's hot? And then you tell her that you want to see her naked? Does that work for you?"

"Well" I say trying to think on my next words. "It does"

"Well guess what. That shit doesn't work for me. It will take you a lot more than that"

"Really" I say defiantly. "Like what" and all the sudden the biggest of the three marines steps into the conversation.

"Is this colony boy bothering, Mellor?" he asks her with a Latin accent while looking at me in the eye.

"Just stay out of it, Antonio" she tells him.

"Yeah, Antonio" I say. "Why don't you get lost?"

"Hey watch it, boy!" he says putting a hand on my chest and pushes me back gently.

"Ok boys" Mellor says trying to separate us both. "Conversation is over"

"Why?" I say. "Everything was going fine, and then this asshole…" I push the tall marine harder than he pushed me with both hands. "… showed up!" The other two marines and navy girls were already watching us as well as Jerry the bar tender, Miclos and a couple of old men that were having a drink in the corner of the bar. Tension was in the air so high that you could even smell it. Antonio, the tall marine, punched me as an answer for me pushing him away. I get a little disorientated with the punch that hits me on the right side of my face. When I react Miclos grabs a bottle of whatever it is and breaks it against the marine's skull. The fight just started. Mellora still tries to apply for democracy but it's obviously a failure. The two other marines step up from their chairs in an attempt to join the fight in the aid of there almost knocked out comrade. Miclos and I clearly are afraid as we are just two stupid teenagers with alcohol in our vanes, trying to win a fight against two marines that are older than us and have been trained to kill. We are outnumbered and outgunned. They run into us as oxen do against their targets. We give them some punches and use the bottle as well as some glasses but it's useless. In less than five second we are against one of the tables about to get out guts kicked but just then, a group of five men step into the bar. They are also in uniform, but they are army troopers, the marine's number one rival. When they see the fight that is unfolding before them they don't hesitate in joining in. Gladly, they join our side. The marines don't have any other choice but to leave us be and face the soldiers. The navy chicks also join in this time in the aid of the now outnumbered navy infantry men. Miclos faces one of the navy chicks, the one with yellowish skin tone and somehow, Antonio manages to find me in the middle of the fight and charges against me. He tackles me and I use my elbow to try and hit him hard. He is still a little bit dizzy because of the bottle Miclos broke against his head and that's why I manage to get off him. I stare at the fight for a second and I note that it's not a thirteen people fight anymore. Out of nowhere other marines, navy personnel, and army troopers have joined in the fighting over… whatever was at stake at that moment. I get so touched by the view that I smack into the ground out of nowhere. I realize that I've been punched in the face. When I look up I see nobody but Mellor.

"Come on, baby" I tell her. "Not you" but she doesn't answer. She tries to punch me again but I manage to avoid her fist. She pulls off an improvised military like movement that ends up with her turning around and kicking with the outside part of her leg in the ribs, knocking all the air out of me. I try to catch my breath but she kicks me again this time knocking me off my feet. She gets closer more and more every time and I start thinking about what she will do to me once I am in her hands. I prepare for what will be a kick in the balls but just then, something breaks through the window. Everybody stops doing what they are doing and stares at the projectile. Somebody screams "FLASHBANG!" and everybody drops to the floor. I close my eyes and cover my ears.

Even though my eyes are shut, I'm still left briefly blinded as well as with ears that can't hear a thing. When I open my eyes I see Mellor on the ground crawling clearly knocked out by the flash and the sound. Miclos manages to get to me and helps me up. We try to find the back door of the bar as military police men brake into the place armed with electric guns and bats shouting: "MP EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND NOW. IF YOU RESIST YOU WILL BE CHARGED. YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST!"

Its close but we do manage to get out of the building through the back door and into the parking lot. We wait behind one of the warthogs, the military vehicle in which some of the military personnel that came to the fight arrived in, waiting for the cost to be clear. We run to Miclos' vehicle and we get inn as fast as possible. Miclos starts the engine and he pulls reverse. Some cops note that we are leaving and they order us to stop, like if that was going to make us change our minds. Miclos steppes on the gas and we are soon out of the cops range as we pass through many crossroads.

"Shit" Miclos says while laughs at the same time. "That was close"

"You bet it was" I tell him as I wipe the blood from my lips with my shirt's sleeve. It doesn't take much before we reach a place that Miclos had been telling me about all week. It is ridge that marks the end of the main city of the planet where there is not much but a little cabin where nobody lives. We park some meters before the cliff and we get out of the car. I sit on top of the hood and Miclos joins me with an unexpected bottle of classic vodka. We both talk about the fight that unfolded in the bar. He tells me that he will never try to punch a marine directly. I tell him that Navy girls are as hot as well as dangerous. We both laugh and drink and do it again and again till there is nothing left from the vodka bottle. We both lay down inside the car in our respective seats. Miclos presses a button that makes the car's top flip open and fold on the back, the main reason why these type of cars are called convertibles.

"Boy, I love you, man" he tells me in Hungarian.

"You are drunk" I tell him.

"Yeah that might be true" he tells me. "But I do love you"

"I love you too, brother" I tell him and we both fall into a deep sleep in what seems to be a normal every week Friday night. Through the night I experience some pretty strange dreams. From me being a little boy and interacting with no existing creatures, to dreaming a fantasy involving Mellor, the navy girl from the bar. In this last dream I note that there is some kind of "hum" for some moments and then it disappears and then it appears again. I question myself about what it could be. First I blame the alcohol that I drank, but then I start thinking a little bit more. I try to ignore it again but it's impossible. In the south outskirts of the city, there are docks for ships as big as frigates. I don't know about it but there are four frigates stationed all together. They are trying to put their crew together so they can fight back the enemy shooting at them from the skies. All sorts of projectiles impact against the ships. One of them hasn't turned its shields up and one of these projectiles is lucky enough to melt through the metal plates that cover the ship's surface and somehow it reaches the main ammo locker of the ship. Anyone could probably guess about the consequences. The whole ship erupts in a huge ball of fire letting loose an expansion wave that end after about ten miles, but the boom is even heard in the south-west outskirts, where Miclos and I are right now. We immediately wake up and our eyes can't believe what we are seeing.


End file.
